wendi

Same. I was one of their AIR for this department AND one of their faculty members wrote my rec letter for all my other applications. I didn't get in last year but my current faculty advisors and classmates keep telling me how fucked up and bizarre that is. I hope that's true and I get some good news but I'm trying not to to set myself up for disappointment.

I haven't heard anything from UConn or VCU (Photo). I tried to call VCU about a month ago and one of the faculty that was supposed to be a main decider was on sabbatical at the time? So I don't know if their whole timeline is pushed back or what. I imagine I'm probably rejected from both because I got a LOT of rejections this year tbh.

So, uh, idk what anyone else is talking about but Columbia College is well known for their Photography program in particular. Dawoud Bey is the head of their department right now, IIRC? Also, personally, I think choosing CC looks a little more "with it" on a resume; like everybody knows RISD is good, but Columbia College looks special. Going to a lesser-known yet known-for-being-fantastic program vs. one everybody applies to by default? I'm not sure if I'm making sense, and maybe this doesn't matter to anybody else. As a photographer I'd have no reservations choosing Columbia College here, personally. I think, however, RISD leans toward a very technological direction and has been doing this techie/green/science slant lately so if that's what you do then you're going to get a lot of great support to do that.

I have a friend there for painting undergrad and he's been unhappy, but I'm not sure WHY. He was trying to get me to apply to their photo MFA because he thought the master's cohort work he had seen was a bunch of super lame baloney and he figured I'd get in. That really might be the only beef as far as I know, and since you say you like the alumni work then maybe it's irrelevant. SAIC has had something bigger going on but I also don't know EXACTLY what it is. We recently had an artist talk with SAIC faculty and someone in the audience ripped into her about the school and how they're treating a lot of "politically correct" progressive discourse. She wasn't very articulate, but what I could put together was that they had a highly white-feminism/all lives matter approach to political artwork. This may be worth investigating in alumni/current students. Some other whispers I've heard from my advisors and professors is that SAIC "famously" underpays their faculty (this comes with an eyebrow-raise when you look at their tuition costs). I think there is more, but I haven't kept up because they're not really on "my list."

I have definitely heard mumblings of discontent at both of them, so if I were you I'd try to nail down what the gossip is, but that's just me.

I did not interview with them, but I was one of their AIR for the department I applied for, so I have worked with the faculty for a full month in the past. That's not to say they don't "have" to interview me, but if they didn't I guess it would make sense.

Still waiting to hear from VCU and UConn. I applied to VCU last year and I remember them taking a long time to reject me. The only acceptance I've gotten so far is for Nomad/9, and I'm trying to decide if I want to do that or see if I can get funded at UConn (or try again next year), so I have a decision to make. I'm doing coursework at SMFA right now and that place is a mess tbh.